This diary started as a comment to mcjoan's great diary today on Ken Burns' PB National Park series. I decided to make it a diary.
Fellow Kossack Haplogroup V mentioned in a comment that uber-wingnut Hugh Hewitt was on C-SPAN recently, claiming that we have the Republicans to thank for the national parks.
I have to call bullshit on Hewitt.
Democratic Presidents signed park bills that created nearly two-thirds of the 58 national parks.
Below the fold, you may BEHOLD the Democratic park legacy:
Wilson:
Hawai'i Volcanoes
Haleakala
Lassen Volcanic
Mount McKinley
Grand Canyon
Acadia
Zion
BONUS: Wilson also signed the bill that created the National Park Service in 1916
FDR:
Great Smoky Mountains
Shenandoah
Olympic
Isle Royale
Kings Canyon
Mammoth Cave
Big Bend
Truman:
Everglades
JFK:
Virgin Islands
LBJ:
Petrified Forest
Canyonlands
North Cascades
Redwood
Carter:
Badlands
Theodore Roosevelt
Channel Islands
Biscayne
Katmai
Glacier Bay
Gates of the Arctic
Kenai Fjords
Kobuk Valley
Lake Clark
Wrangell-St. Elias
Clinton:
Death Valley
Joshua Tree
Saguaro
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Great Sand Dunes
Cuyahoga Valley
That's 37 of 58 national parks, created under Democratic presidents--about 64%--nearly two-thirds.
And as for the Republicans, they ain't makin' 'em like Theodore Roosevelt anymore.